[Albion] Just how hard is it to get points off this top 6?

[GT49er]

I see Palace are attacking a top 6 side. Idiots, 0-7 I should think. You can’t do it.

Edit : they’ve seen sense now and sat back.

....and scored twice and nearly salvaged a point - without doing their GD any harm at all...........

 

[Questions]

....and scored twice and nearly salvaged a point - without doing their GD any harm at all...........

Not big on irony in Gloucester then ?

 

[GT49er]

Not big on irony in Gloucester then ?

I wasn't being ironic.

 

[Questions]

I wasn't being ironic.

No but I was in my original post. Full credit for having a go at Arsenal.

 

[GT49er]

No but I was in my original post. Full credit for having a go at Arsenal.

I didn't......but hey! - if I was 40 years younger again!


(Yes, I knew what you meant. )

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I seem to recall promoted minnows like Hull, West Brom and Reading all beating the CL position teams upon promotion. Even Huddersfield have done it and come very close on a couple of other fixtures.

I know we’re in the relegation league but FFS, we’re not even close to beating a top side like in the days of yore. For to win you must score goals. And to score goals, you must shoot. And to shoot you must be in the opponents half generally. Unless your name’s Steve Sidwell!

The point of my opening post was just how hard our set of six fixtures against the top 6 was - 4 away games, where none of the bottom 13 have even got a point at Old Trafford, the Emirates or Stamford Bridge, plus City and Liverpool at home.

The games that six of the other teams in the bottom 13 have won against the top 6 have been against Chelsea, Arsenal, Man U and Spurs at home - all of which we have to come. We may or may not win one of these games, but those are the games where we might do it. Plus the way the recently promoted minnows won these games was to put in a solid defensive display. KTF

 

[graz126]

if we went out and had a real attacking intent to win these games we would get slaughtered. Our defensive approach is the best way of getting a result just like Greece did whilst winning the euros. Chris knows this as he keeps saying it important to stay in the game as long as possible. It gives us the chance of nicking it. But it is obviously very hard to do as the OP's post proves.

 

[portslade seagull]

Very hard. You have to get shots on target which is very difficult when you have 11 players under orders not to cross the halfway line

 

[GT49er]

Very hard. You have to get shots on target which is very difficult when you have 11 players under orders not to cross the halfway line

Yes, so we'll be alright when Sidwell gets back from injury............

 

[Farehamseagull]

Considering our points total, we didn't actually have a great record against the top sides in the Championship the past two seasons either did we?

We're just very good at getting the job done against the rest and I put that totally down to our very astute manager.

It seems this season in the premier league though that a lot of teams are sacrificing games against the top 6 (particularly during busy periods) by resting players etc as they're so far ahead of everyone else and they're trying to save themselves for the 6 pointers - see Newcastle last night.

 

[warmleyseagull]

Considering our points total, we didn't actually have a great record against the top sides in the Championship the past two seasons either did we? .

Erm, not quite correct. Yes, the record in 15/16 was not good, but last season the 10 games against fellow top 6 reaped 19 points: W6 D1 L3.

 

[OzMike]

I'm guessing that due to your location you only saw the result of the Liverpool match and didn't actually see the game itself. For large parts of the second half we had one of the best attacking teams in the league right on the ropes. Before Liverpool scored we missed at least two good chances to take the lead. Yet that turned out to be our heaviest defeat to date

I watch every Saturday/Sunday game and replays of the midweek games, so I do watch all the games.
Agree with what you say about the Liverpool game, but we should attack like that every game.
Play to win I think it is called.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

What concerns me is that while most people seem to say the games against the big six don’t matter and that we are expecting to lose 12/12, it could be that any bonus points gained in those games end up being the points that determine who goes down and who stays up, actually making them the most important of all.

Just taking three or four points from those 12 games can define a season and make all the difference. I just don’t buy into the idea that we can afford to lose 12/12 and, if we do, I wouldn’t mind betting we finish just below a team like Huddersfield who already have three bonus points (and may well get more).

Agreed.
Completely writing off 36 points is a helluva statement. It means you have to average 1.5 pts in all remaining 26 games to stay up. i.e winning every other game. I am seriously worried that we will lose all 12 against the bigger boys and it could be the deciding factor in a very tight division. Just one win out of those 12 could be the difference between staying up or going down.
At the moment, we have 21 pts from the other 14 games, so it could be argued that the gameplan is working but anything gleaned from the big boys will be a welcome bonus.

 

[mothy]

Has anyone asked burnley how to do it?

 

[Icy Gull]

Has anyone asked burnley how to do it?

Get relegated, keep your best players, get promoted, struggle to stay up and with the third season of Premier League money and one of parachute payments you might have a hardened team comfortable at the top level. Having a good manager is also a plus, so at least we have one of the aforementioned in place. Simples

A plus point is that we have won more away games this season than Burnley managed all last season, I think

 

[Thunder Bolt]

What concerns me is that while most people seem to say the games against the big six don’t matter and that we are expecting to lose 12/12, it could be that any bonus points gained in those games end up being the points that determine who goes down and who stays up, actually making them the most important of all.

Just taking three or four points from those 12 games can define a season and make all the difference. I just don’t buy into the idea that we can afford to lose 12/12 and, if we do, I wouldn’t mind betting we finish just below a team like Huddersfield who already have three bonus points (and may well get more).

Huddersfield took those points at home. Apart from Liverpool, our games have been away.


When we tried to get promoted two years ago, we only beat Hull, & everyone said we had to beat teams around us. Last season we did.
So, the same applies in reverse this season. Beat those teams below us, & we'll stay up.

 

[Brovion]

No but I was in my original post. Full credit for having a go at Arsenal.

Yeah, but they've got the players. There's a thread on here taking the piss out of Zaha and saying he looks like Duane Dibley from Red Dwarf, but the simple fact is he'd walk into our team and greatly improve it. Ditto Townsend and Benteke as well. And Loftus-Cheek has proved to be a better loan signing than Brown.

So Palace can 'give it a go' knowing that they've got the players who can make it pay. We can't do that.

 

[Milano]

I agre it is bad for football - but what really gets my goat is that its teams like us that are being blamed for this. People like Phil Neville come out and say we're all scared, the BBC live text is full of criticism for our tactics, NSC is riddled with people saying 'have a go'. But its not our fault that we're made to play in the same league as teams that should be a couple of divisions above us. A situation has been created where there are super teams, a Man City back 4 that cost more than our stadium, a Man City team that is worth twice as much as the new buyer of Newcastle United will pay. Its so uneven and teams like us are here to be fodder, and then when we don't open up and go gung ho we get criticised for it. Well sorry, we're trying to stay up and win games, and getting tonked whilst knackering our players and damaging our goal difference is not the way to do it. Sorry if it doesn't excite viewers in the far east but we're NOT just here to make up the numbers and we'll play it our way. We played well against Chelsea but they are just too good. Every player is better than ours 1-11. We are competing, trying to get the ball, keep the all, make chances, but its just too hard. But playing this way is the ONLY way to get points off them.

This is the best post of 2017.

 

[Icy Gull]

Yeah, but they've got the players. There's a thread on here taking the piss out of Zaha and saying he looks like Duane Dibley from Red Dwarf, but the simple fact is he'd walk into our team and greatly improve it. Ditto Townsend and Benteke as well. And Loftus-Cheek has proved to be a better loan signing than Brown.

So Palace can 'give it a go' knowing that they've got the players who can make it pay. We can't do that.

True, much as it pains me to admit it, player for player Palace have way more quality than us in most positions. They also have experienced Premier League players who have already escaped a couple of relegations. They will not be one of the three that go down, however without that elusive striker, I suggest that we probably will.